Brookings County: SDSU researchers looking for active children

NEWSNOTES

Researchers hope to recruit 100 children from Brookings County for a summer study on how well three devices measure physical activity.

Participating children ages 2 to 5 will wear a belt carrying a pedometer, accelerometer and GPS receiver for seven days.

The pedometer measures number of steps, while the accelerometer measures activity level. The GPS device will allow researchers to link the child's location to the type of activity taking place so investigators can look at where physical activity occurs.

The study is being done through South Dakota State University.

Researchers say they hope that improving the methods for measuring early life activity will lead to a better understanding of the link between childhood activity and lifelong health.